Insurgency: Sandstorm [PC, P?S 4, X1]

UE4 Powered Insurgency: Sandstorm To Hit PC & Consoles in 2017

New World Interactive and Focus Home Interactive have just announced their partnership for Insurgency: Sandstorm, a brand new instalment in the franchise that already sold over 2.3 million copies on PC.
The game has been built from the ground up with Unreal Engine 4, and according to the press release it will feature both the classic competitive/cooperative Insurgency gameplay and a new story mode.
Jeremy Blum, Founder and Game Director of New World Interactive, stated:Advertisements

We are very excited about working with Focus on Insurgency: Sandstorm. We believe there’s a great opportunity for Insurgency on next-gen consoles and that aligning with a strong publisher will allow us to best leverage this. Considering our background, it was not easy finding a publisher we felt compatible with. We decided to work with Focus because they understand our game and they believe in our vision. In addition, they bring a wealth of knowledge when it comes to shipping console games and marketing to that audience.

Cédric Lagarrigue, President of Focus Home Interactive, added:

We are very proud to partner with American studio New World Interactive. Insurgency is one of the most praised and played First Person Shooters on PC. We are excited to support NWI in this new adventure, and we will do everything we can to make Insurgency: Sandstorm a hit on consoles and PC in 2017.

In the meantime, if you’re a fan of World War 2 shooters there’s a new mod for Insurgency on PC called Day of Infamy, developed jointly by New World Interactive and the modding community.

[UPDATE] The official website has two screenshots of Insurgency: Sandstorm, comparing it to the base game (which was made with Source engine). The difference is quite dramatic as you can see in these GIFs.
There are also some details about the game itself.

The story mode will focus on a squad of characters as they face increasingly challenging chapters, from the invasion of Iraq in 2003 through the insurrection period and leading to the present day.

New World Interactive is also developing a new eSports framework which will be included at launch in Sandstorm, but will debut in beta version in the Source engine version of Insurgency.
Creative Director Andrew Spearin said:

The industry is going wild about the potential of eSports and we recognize the potential Insurgency has from the very root of its gameplay. Taking the time to build our competitive systems, while receiving data and feedback from the community will allow us to iterate towards quality and ensure we have a solid framework for the new console launch. We look forward to delivering to our passionate competitive fanbase the experience they’ve long been waiting for.

Insurgency Dev: Games Are Shitty When It Comes To Story & We Want To Fix That; Story To Last 3-5 Hours

Insurgency: Sandstorm was announced last week by New World Interactive and Focus Home Interactive. This is a new installment in the Insurgency franchise built from the ground up with Unreal Engine 4 and scheduled to launch on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2017.
In order to deliver more news to the existing Insurgency community, the studio hosted a live stream where Creative Director Andrew Spearin answered many questions. Possibly the biggest addition in Insurgency: Sandstorm is the story mode and Spearin had some very interesting things to say about the current state of storytelling in AAA shooters.

The story is not going to be like a triple A, Michael Bay-like blockbuster. It’s going to be a little more understated, kind of like an indie film or something like that. Just because games do things in a certain way it doesn’t mean that’s the way they need to be done.Advertisements

When you see giant explosions, buildings collapsing…That’s what we don’t do, because that’s been done and it’s all about the spectacle and not about the story. Games are shitty when it comes to story and we want to fix that. It’s a passion of ours and we want to dive into storytelling a lot more especially in the future, and in many ways I feel that it’s been left behind by all these AAA shooters. They’re more focused on multiplayer because they know that’s what sells, but then we also have a gap in the market now to fill.

Additional story details revealed were the approximate length (3 to 5 hours) and the fact that the developers would like to implement split screen, though it’s not certain yet.
There were more interesting tidbits, such as the fact that the current owners of Insurgency on PC may receive a discount when purchasing Insurgency: Sandstorm. Similarly, modding support on PC is planned but not set in stone yet, while the MP player counts on consoles may be limited to 24 (32 is still the developer’s target for PC).